Alfonso V of León
| death_place = Viseu | burial_place = Basilica of San Isidoro | religion = Roman Catholicism }} Alfonso V (994 – 7 August 1028), called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. Enough is known of him to justify the belief that he had some of the qualities of a soldier and a statesman. Like other kings of León, he used the title emperor to assert his standing among the Christian rulers of Spain. Alfonso was three years old when he succeeded his father, Bermudo II, in 999. His mother, Elvira García, and count Menendo González, who raised him in Galicia, acted as his co-regents until 1007, when the queen mother retired and became a nun. Alfonso began the work of reorganizing the Christian kingdom of the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula after a most disastrous period of civil war and Arab inroads. His name and that of his wife are associated with the grant of the first franchises of León (1017). On a Wednesday, 7 August 1028, Alfonso V was killed by an arrow while besieging the Muslim town of Viseu, King Alfonso was buried next to his first wife Elvira, according to his wishes, at the Church of Saint John the Baptist and San Pelayo which later changed its name to the Basilica of San Isidoro when the latter saint's remains were transferred from Seville. The following epitaph was carved on his tomb: }} Family Alfonso first married Elvira Mendes in 1013, daughter of his tutor Menendo González at whose house he was raised as a child, with whom he had two children. *Sancha of León, married Ferdinand I of León and Castile *Bermudo III of León (c. 1015–1037) After Elvira's death on 2 December 1022, Alfonso married Urraca Garcés, sister of King Sancho III of Navarre. Before this marriage took place, the king of Navarre had sent Ponce, abbot at the Monastery of San Pedro de Tavèrnoles, later bishop of Oviedo, and an nobleman named Garcia, to intercede before Abbot Oliba, bishop of Vic, in favor of the marriage of his sister Urraca to the king of León, despite the impediments of consanguinity. Although Bishop Oliba refused to approve such marriage as expressed in a letter dated 11 May 1023, the royal wedding was celebrated between the date of the bishop's letter and 13 November 1023 when Alfonso V and his new wife, who confirms as ''Urraka regina, appear together for the first time in a charter in the Cathedral of León. Urraca and her mother Jimena Fernández made a donation on 26 September 1028 to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela confirming as Scemena regina simulque et filia mea Urraca Regina (...) genitoris nostri Fredenandus Ueremudiz et domna Geloria, and a few years later, King Bermudo III on 6 August 1031 referred to his step-mother as Urraca regina Garseani regis filia. Alfonso and Urraca had one daughter, who was named Jimena as attested in a charter dated 22 December 1036 in a donation made by Muniadona and her son Fernando Gundemáriz, son of Gundemaro Pinióliz, when she confirms as Jimena, daughter of King Alfonso. References Bibliography * * * * * Category:Leonese monarchs Category:Galician monarchs Category:Monarchs killed in action Category:Spanish military personnel killed in action Category:Medieval child rulers Category:11th-century monarchs in Europe Category:Roman Catholic monarchs Category:10th-century monarchs in Europe Category:Beni Alfons Category:994 births Category:1028 deaths Category:Burials in the Royal Pantheon at the Basilica of San Isidoro